High Standard Accuracy

**saleen322** · September 21st, 2010, 11:24 PM

I personally like just about all of the High Standard pistols. For years, the pistols made in Hamden CT were considered to be the best. They are great and I have owned and currently do own them. But, in the hard reality of shooting them under the same conditions and closely measuring performance, how do they compare? Is there a difference between a barrel from Hamden and Houston? How does an aftermarket barrel from a quality manufacturer like Volquartsen compare? How does a heavy Texas silhouette barrel compare with a Hamden “Space Barrel” of the same length?

Because all 22s have a preference for one ammo over another, I used 4 common target rounds; Aguila Pistol Match, CCI Standard Velocity, RWS Target, and SKS Standard Plus. All rounds were shot at 50 yards because it is far enough to magnify the differences but close enough to be applicable as that is the conventional pistol outdoor slow fire distance. The groups are mostly 5 shot (with one exception) because 5 rounds could be easily loaded, I did not want to handle any guns mid-string to put in a possible error, and 5-shot strings are the norm in conventional pistol.

Two things I should mention. First, the Houston Victor did so well I shot one 10-shot group with it to convince myself it was not a fluke. It backed it up with a 10-shot under 1.3". I also shot another group with the Hamden 5.5 to make sure the flyer was not just a bad round. The next group opened up and it was consistent with its average. I could go on but this is too long already.

**d4xycrq** · September 22nd, 2010, 12:49 AM

Nice work, Saleen. I appreciate the work you put into this. I'm a big High Standard fan. My Dad and I collected all the bits we have before Houston stood up operations. So all ours are Hamden. We do have one non-HS barrel. It was custom made by Falcon up in New York. We bought it to put a Aim-Point sight on.

As for accuracy, these are frighteningly fine firearms. I used to go to board shoots, or turkey shoots, and would use the High Standard. It was a unfair advantage.

Best regards and thanks again.

Ray

**Pete D.** · September 22nd, 2010, 06:08 AM

The Hamden guns. Absolutely the finest American made target pistols ever made.

Pete

**Brick** · September 22nd, 2010, 05:46 PM

Well, it looks like you've provided proof positive that the Houston Tx guns are every bit as good (maybe even slightly better) than the Hamden guns.

A very good job with your test!

Thanks again!

**Brick** · September 22nd, 2010, 05:49 PM

By the way, d4xycrq and Pete D. if you want to give your HS guns a workout, there is a NRA Conventional Pistol Match underway in the ONLINE COMPETITION thread. Basically a single national match course. Entries must be submitted by 30 Sep 2010.

**saleen322** · September 22nd, 2010, 06:16 PM

This is JMHO. If the condition of the gun is about the same, the Hamden manufactured High Standards will command the best price and will always be rated ahead of the East Hartford pistols. The Houston guns get a mixed reception. I have three Houston guns and all of their barrels were tested in this thread. The good side is the barrels are as accurate as anything made, I shot the entire test with one Houston frame, all barrels fit on tight and it did not have one malfunction. All of the Houston frames (of course the Hamden also) do the same but I did not want to keep seating a new frame in the pistol rest.

The bad side is I never bought one and it just worked without me working on it to at least some extent. The magazines were over heat treated and broke when I tried to adjust them, ramps needed polished, etc, etc. However, the end result was worth it and that Victor is the best looking and performing High Standard I ever came across. It has a feel in my hand that rivals my Hammerli.

If you ever get a chance to buy a good Hamden gun at a fair price, do it. You will never regret it and you can always get your money back out of it. If you get a Houston gun for a better price, it will probably work for you but I have heard stories where the frames were not right and some "Gunsmiths" rigged various fixes that were primitive at best, screws put in the frames, pins added to the frames, etc and then they complain the gun doesn’t work. That has never been my experience but some folks swear that was the case with them but I don't know how many had the severe problems only after their gunsmith could not fix it. Ok, I will get off the soapbox now......

**saleen322** · September 22nd, 2010, 06:54 PM

Thanks guys for the kind words.

Something else I found out doing this was about the quality of 22 ammo. Consistently, SKS and RWS shot the best. No surprise as it costs more (although I bought the 5K round case of RWS on sale at Grice a couple of years ago for $189!! Of course, I only got 1 ....). But, CCI Std and Aguila always went off, costs less and was not that far behind especially from a pistol application standpoint at least for practice.

The High Standards give the target shooter all he/she could ask for, they deliver all of the shots you hold for, you are in the 10-ring, you get the 10; and what more can you ask from any gun?